A BETTER BOTTOM LINE

After a complete reinvention more than a decade ago, the Short Hills-based Investors Bank grew and thrived—in part because of an insistence upon community engagement

by Jessica Jones-Gorman • Photos By Amessé Photography

When Kevin Cummings became executive vice president and COO of Investors Bank in 2003, the financial institution was a 42-branch retail network with a comparatively modest $750 million in loans and $5.5 billion in assets.

“A quiet thrift that avoided risk,” as Cummings described it, “but an organization that had tons of potential.”

Now, more than a decade later, with Cummings at the helm as president and CEO, Short Hills-based Investors has quadrupled in size, growing to encompass some 1,800 employees and recognized as one of the fastest growing banks in the area.

“We’ve changed the culture here to encompass business banking and built our operation to go head-to-head with the big guys,” Cummings explained. “Our stock is up 250% since the company went public 10 years ago, and over the past 12 months our capital has grown some $2.2 billion. And we continue to see opportunities in the marketplace to grow organically and to make acquisitions.”

For Cummings, who grew up in Jersey City and played basketball and baseball for St. Peter’s Prep before attending Middlebury College in Vermont, the once small town company’s growth is a source of noticeable pride.

“I went from being this observer, consultant, and CPA to managing this great team of individuals who have all worked together to build the impressive company that we have now,” he said.

After earning his M.B.A. from Rutgers University in 14 months, Cummings earned a position with the accounting firm KPMG, where he worked for 26 years and eventually became partner before taking the position with Investors in 2003.

“Working for KPMG was a wonderful experience,” he recalled. “I worked in community banking and dealt with many of the large banks headquartered in both New York and New Jersey, and commuted back and forth to Frankfurt, Germany for a time to visit a key client, Deutsche Bank. In 2003, I got a call from a headhunter about the job as COO with Investors, and after discussing it with my former partner, decided I might be interested in being a little closer to home.”

Investors Bank had been one of Cummings’ clients in the late 1980s, so he knew the account and the bank well. During his interview, he remembered comparing the enterprise to a piece of clay that he hoped to form into something bigger. So, in 2005, he took the bank public and gradually added commercial real estate to the predominantly residential lender’s portfolio.

“The change at Investors was an evolution, not a revolution,” Cummings explained. “We had good people there, and our goal was to transform the balance sheet and transform the long-term plan of the organization.”

The IPO earned Investors $500 million and allowed the bank to invest in its commercial lending. It became the fastest growing bank during the recession, building from 42 branches to almost 140 branches today.

“It has really been a combination of organic growth and acquisition,” Cummings said. “We’re made investments in our people…creating a continuous learning environment where employees are engaged, and it has been a privilege to work with an outstanding team of leaders who have created and fostered a great community banking brand in our tough market.”

Investors Bank has also remained active in the community, assisting different charitable organizations—both maintaining relationships with several in New Jersey and launching one of its own. The Investors Foundation, which was established in 2005, was built to enrich the lives of New Jersey and New York citizens by supporting initiatives in the arts, education, youth development, affordable housing, and health and human services. To date, it has pledged more than $16 million in support of the communities the bank serves.

“The chairman of Investors Bank who preceded me offered some advice on how to make a difference in the community,” said Cummings. “He told me, ‘As a company, you can perform well while still doing good in the community.’ Plus, charity was always a part of my Jesuit education and upbringing. It’s important to be the best version of yourself, and that holds true for businesses. At Investors, we feel that you can lead by example, and the tone at the top here is that, together with our employees and customers, we can make communities better. If you serve as a good corporate neighbor, others will be engaged and excited about serving the greater good. Anyone can make money, but we have a mission and purpose to help improve the community in which we work.”
Cummings hopes to extend that charity and the bank’s success well into the future.

“The future for this company is bright,” he concluded. “Our goal is to simply build upon the success we’ve had over these past several years.”